Dear Bucko,

I'm sorry to hear about the pending divorce.  Divorces are rarely easy.  First let's assume your brother has seen a physician, had the requisite scans and is healthy.  If he has not, he needs to do this immediately.

Once medical issues are out of the way, it's time to understand that while divorces may sometimes seem like sudden decisions, they rarely are.  A divorce is the result of years, and sometimes decades, of unhappiness.  We all get comfortable with the status quo and so it takes a lot of energy to actually put the legal, psychological, social and economic mechanisms in place to get divorced.  This is why there are so many unhappy marriages. It's just easier for many people to live with the unhappiness they know than venture into the unknown.

It is possible that after your brother's hiking accident he thought about his own mortality -- as well as his satisfaction with the life he has created -- and decided to make a change.  After 43 years of marriage, a divorce will represent an enormous upheaval -- so you might want to think about how you can support him during this transition.

Respecting his decision and allowing him to find the happiness he is missing is a great way to show that you are there for him.

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Dear Betty,

You are reaping what you sowed, my dear.  Your children have no respect for or regard of money because you've never taught them to -- they actually think it magically grows on trees.  And as they've grown, so has their appetite for material possessions.

Stop giving them money to spend!  And make them figure out how to pay their bills (yes, children, this means acquiring a job and holding onto it, whilst attending school at the same time).

-- M

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Dear Ashley,

My poor poppet, as Dr. Laurie would say, "You have to be your own, fiercest advocate!"  If you're extremely low on energy, enlist the help of friends and family.

Forget your perception -- call the doctor's office and succinctly explain your misery.  See if they have an emergency slot you can slide into today or tomorrow (many doctors secretly keep slots open just for this reason).

If not, get yourself to an urgent care center -- Promptcare and Medcheck are popular here in the Midwest, though names vary region to region.  Find them in the phone book, online, or by asking your doctor's office and local hospital.

As long as you're miserable, you won't be able to concentrate on anything else.  Be brave and take control of the situation.

-- M

Dear Nikki,

If you find yourself severely incapacitated in daily activities, you may be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) -- also known as "winter depression."

There is nothing to be ashamed of if this is the case.  It's a matter of your brain's chemicals getting out of whack.

Pay a visit to your primary care physician or seek a referral to a psychologist -- a professional with whom you can discuss your experiences and plan a strategy to better manage them.

-- M

Dear J,

Your letter echoes the sentiments I hear from so many folks battling autoimmune diseases -- and there is no quick fix to the emotional dilemma.

But there is hope.

I asked my good friend Dr. Laurie to help us.

Click here to read what she has to say.

-- M